1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for treating tar. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method for treating tar separated from a liquid containing an aromatic hydroxybenzene obtained by acidolysis of a liquid containing an aromatic hydroperoxide, wherein the method has advantages in handling, working environments and treatment cost.
2. Description of Related Art
For example, a method for producing an aromatic hydroxybenzene containing the following steps is publicly known:
first step: a liquid containing an alkyl aromatic hydrocarbon is oxidized with air or oxygen in liquid phase, to convert it into a liquid containing an aromatic hydroperoxide,
second step: the reaction liquid obtained in the first step is contacted with an alkali aqueous solution, to obtain an aqueous layer containing the aromatic hydroperoxide and an oil layer,
third step: the aqueous layer obtained in the second step is contacted with an organic solvent as an extracting solvent, to obtain an aqueous layer and an oil layer containing the aromatic hydroperoxide,
fourth step: the oil layer obtained in the third step is contacted with an acid to convert it into a liquid containing an aromatic hydroxybenzene via acidolysis of the aromatic hydroperoxide, and
fifth step: the liquid containing the aromatic hydroxybenzene obtained in the fourth step is distilled, to separate tar from low boiling point components containing the organic solvent, and the aromatic hydroxybenzene.
The tar separated as described above has a nature that it solidifies when cooled to 100° C. or lower, and there is a method for treating the tar solidified by cooling, however, depending on the nature of the tar, handling thereof often became very difficult due to stickiness, non-solidification and the like. Further, there were also problems of poor working environments such as odor during handling working of solidified tar, and the like.